Circular Distributors (CD) managing director Nick Wells has been named chief executive. The move effectively frees him up to focus on leading sister company TNT Mail UK’s assault on the deregulated postal market. Wells is also chief executive of TNT Mail. Charles Neilson will replace Wells as CD managing director, with a remit to ensure the firm continues its aggressive growth.
Read MoreTwo pillars of Swiss nationhood are being tested Sunday citizenship and the post office.
Voting in referendums, the cornerstone of their system of direct democracy, the Swiss will decide whether to loosen the Alpine country’s tough rules on naturalising foreigners, and whether to block their government’s cost-cutting campaign to shut post offices. Both have provoked bitter debate in a nation where political consensus has been the watchword.
The government’s proposed change of citizenship laws represents a recognition that Switzerland, long accustomed to homogeneity within its Alpine ramparts, is becoming a multicultural society.
Read MoreThe catalogue industry is up in arms following Royal Mail’s decision to further delay the introduction of size-based pricing until April 2006, saying it will lead to increasing costs for mail order companies. As a result of the size-based pricing scheme, first mooted two years ago, many catalogue firms have been increasing their pagination to take advantage. But Nigel Swabey, chief executive of mail order company Scotts of Stow, says: “It takes time to increase the pagination of a catalogue from 48 to 150 pages, and we have made a massive investment to achieve this. Now that the introduction of size-based pricing has been delayed a further six months, we find ourselves paying a postage rate that is desperately uncompetitive.” A Royal Mail spokeswoman says: “We understand why some companies are not happy with the situation. We want to introduce size-based pricing as soon as possible, but, ultimately, it is up to watchdog Postcomm to decide when it can be implemented, once the consultation period has ended.
Read MoreIn preparation for a fiercer battle with the competition due to the liberalization of the postal market, Polska Poczta (PP) Polish Post will begin changing its structure next year. 100 additional services that PP currently offers on over a dozen markets will be grouped into three main departments – a postal one, a financial one and a logistics one.
Read MoreAustralia Post has rejected TWU calls for a separate enterprise agreement covering its growing transport and logistics arms, saying one agreement is enough. TWU Qld sec Hughie Williams told Workforce there were “several hundred” workers in Brisbane doing “exactly transport work” carting general freight for Post and for Post–Qantas joint ventures Star Track Express and Australian Air Express. “They are even calling themselves a transport logistics company,” he said. Some 210 of Brisbane’s 270 drivers have joined the TWU, but “Australia Post doesn’t want anything to do with the TWU”, Williams said. Post spokesperson Elizabeth Rich said the TWU is neither a respondent nor a party to any of its awards or agreements and Post will not negotiate a separate agreement covering transport workers. “Australia Post currently has in-principle support from relevant unions for its sixth enterprise agreement.
Read MoreStamps.com has said that it was in ‘active discussions’ with the U.S. Postal Service, which could lead to suspension of its nearly seven-week-old test of sales of personalized postage stamps.
The company also canceled a publicized appearance Thursday at a technology investors’ conference in San Francisco.
Shares of Los Angeles-based Stamps.com fell almost 13 percent in midday trading.
Read MoreAmtrak Express Parcels is set to go on the acquisition trail after returning to profitability in 2004. Its pre-tax profit was (pounds sterling)1.9m against a loss of (pounds sterling)5.5m in 2003. Iain MacRitchie, non-executive chairman, says: “This is an excellent result which has come much earlier than we had anticipated. The performance, competitive advantages and strength of our balance sheet have now provided a strong foundation on which to accelerate and we can now actively participate in the required consolidations of the parcel sector.” The firm, which is 68% owned by 3i, achieved a 4% growth in turnover to (pounds sterling)70m and achieved a (pounds sterling)6m operating profit. Revenue rose 4% to (pounds sterling)69.7m – its highest level in four years. It also revealed it had cut costs by 25% after restructuring its operation in 2002.
Read MoreTNT Global Express, the Italian unit of Dutch mail, express and logistics services provider TPG NV, appointed Massimo Silvetti its new CEO, it was reported on September 23, 2004. Silvetti was nominated by the management board of TPG. TNT Global Express registered a turnover of some 500 mln euro (USD613.9 mln) in 2003. The company employs some 8, 000 people. TNT Global Express has 135 offices in Italy, 3, 400 trucks and six aircraft. The company transports an average of over 140, 000 deliveries daily.
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